Valentine’s Day blues: Facebook forced to delay dating service launch in Europe

Disappointment for Facebook dating hopefuls: the social media giant has been prevented from launching its dating service in Europe. That means that it won't be available on Valentine's Day for those who wanted to test out the service to find a Valentine's Day date.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook intended to roll out Facebook Dating to its European users today (the day before Valentine's Day), but was blocked from doing so when Ireland's Data Protection Commission got wind of the plan yesterday, on February 12th.

So what's the big deal? According to the same report, under EU data privacy rules, companies have to perform a data processing impact assessment (DPIA) before launching a product or service that could impact their customers’ data. Facebook claims that it completed that assessment ahead of the launch date, though Ireland's Data Protection Commission has still expressed concern. As a result, the Facebook Dating roll out has been delayed.

What is Facebook Dating?

Facebook Dating is Facebook's online dating service, which works like your standard dating app like Tinder or Bumble. The difference is that data from your Facebook profile is used to populate your Dating profile and helps pair you with a potential date based on a number of factors, like the pages in common you like or groups you may be a part of. If you're feeling adventurous, you can opt to be open to people outside your network, or choose to stay in a relatively tight circle of friends of friends. You can also choose to include photos from your Instagram account. Facebook is currently available in 20 countries, including the United States.